Poll: Have you read any novels, short stories, plays or poetry for pleasure in the last year?

According to a survey only 46.7% of American adults have read any literature in the last year. You can read about it here (yes you have to register to read it but it is free).

He's an interesting tidbit from the article, 43% of readers engage in charity work while only 17% of non-readers.

Let's learn about Fruheads reading habits.

(yes you have to register to read it but it is free)

fruheads/fruheads

did i create that one? i have a vague memory of doing so.

also, you can always go to bug me not to get usernames and passwords to avoid registering for those sites.

no need to register:

Username: darlist

PW: darlist

Wil Wheaton's "Dancing Barefoot"

Ooh wierd, i was reading that today.

oo... loved that.� my copy of "Just A Geek" should be arriving shortly.�

actually the best book i've read in recent memory is "Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West"� it gets 4.9 budgiedogs out of a possible 5, and i'm not even a big Oz fan.

?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Wil Wheaton writes books now?????????????????????

Wil Wheaton??? The actor i've had a crush on since i was 12?????????

This may change my whole reading list arrangement.....btw i just asked at Barnes and Nobles about "Just a Geek" and the said it was going to be out until next month...*foof*

I do occasionally find some time to read some... still currently working on Tom Clancy's The Sum Of All Fears. Next up, whenever I finally finish that, is a copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, containing all 5 books in the Hitchhiker's trilogy plus the story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe." Figured I'd better put it on my list to read because (apologies in advance for the blashphemy) I haven't read any of them yet.

-- Pauley

I'm currently working on four books at once.

Like Smatthew?

"Have you ever read four books at once?"
"Um, no."
"Then don't tell me how to do it!"

There's never a day when I don't read. I'm currently reading Matt Ruff's Sewer,Gas And Electricity

I scpend alot of time in my car for work so I do listen to books. Recently I listened to Adventures with a knife and fork by Peter Mayle. Its a travel book about odd french festivals involving foods like snails, truffles and frogs legs. Its odd but funny

i listen to them, actually, which makes my hour i spend commuting in the car each day go by more quickly (and feel less like time wasted). most recently, i listened to the book most of the world read five years ago, Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer's account of the Mt. Everest tragedy of 1996. it is WONDERFUL. terrifying and terrible and exhilarating all at once. honestly, best nonfiction i've come across in a long time.

other good ones i've read recently include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Mark Haddon), Night Crew (John Sandford) and Choke (Chuck Palahniuk). oh, and i just won a tote bag for one of the books i've read from my library's adult reading club. w00t!

I recommend _Under the Banner of Heaven,_ also by Jon Krakauer. I liked it even better than _Into Thin Air._

oh, yeah, i second that.� I actually read that first, then started at work on his back catalogue.� into the wild is next.� :D

I've been reading a lot this summer. So far, I've read Dune by Frank Herbert, Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield, I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, and Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore. Now I'm about halfway through The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.

Of the books I've read this summer, Gates of Fire is my favorite. The subject matter is fantastic and historically accurate (it's about The Battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece) and the writing is simply beautiful. If you're an ancient history nut like me, or if you simply like a good read, give it a go.

I just finished reading Dune as well, and I was wondering if I should see the movie or not, do you recommend it?

No.

Definitely NOT the David Lynch version. It's awful.

The Sci-Fi miniseries isn't bad, though.

So far the votes are 19-0 in favor of readers. Is this selection bias? are the not readers not voting? I did guess that FHDC people would be more literate than the general public.

Well, I suppose the poll is a bit biased.� I mean, if people aren't readers, how would they be able to read the question? . . . It's like Nielsen ratings for the Amish . . .

there's a difference between illiteracy and aliteracy.

books i've been reading lately: the devil in the white city by erik larson (history! architechture! serial killers! and fat old guys with waxed mustaches!), pilgrim at tinker creek by annie dillard (god, would i love to borrow her eyes for a day) and...erm...a bunch of baby-sitters club books, actually. :)

. . . er, yeah . . I-- . . . I know there's a difference . . . it . . . was a joke . . . hrm.

i wasn't sure if it was or not. curse this online communication thing. :)

Well there's the fact that it's so easy to fall into the yes category. It asks if you've read a book in the past year (or whatever, I forget the specifics). I have. One. It hardly makes me a reader but it qualifies me for the yes.

Ender's Game, The Illiad (turns out that I was supposed to read it for school anyway), and I, Robot were all books I read for pleasure.

i really haven't been reading like i like to read, because i'm trying to take a full courseload at school (including summers) & make comic books at the same time.

ummm... i think the last book i read for pleasure was the fortress of solitude by jonathan lethem. this would have been about three weeks ago. (around the same time i read the dreamer by will eisner; a graphic novella, if that counts.) oh! but if short stories in like new yorker count, then i read some last sunday.

The Hobbit, The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice, Night Watch by Terry Prattchet, and Small Gods, also by Prattchet.I just finished Prattchet's The Truth and also Hog Father by Prattchet. Hmmm, noticing a trend are we?There are probably a couple Prattchet titles i left out.

Currently reading Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and recently read My Invented Country by Isabelle Allende. A little bit confusing, because I keep remembering back to things from the wrong book. From what I hear, Salvador Allende was not deposed during the Iran/Iraq war. But that's the way I'll end up remembering it...

Next on the plate is the new Tom Robbin Book, and an older book my sister lent me called Jews Without Money.

Hm.� By saying "new Tom Robbins book" are you referring to Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, or is there a new book I haven't been told about?� Just curious.

It's called Villa Incognito and I saw it on the shelf in paperback at B&N, and threw it in the pile. I hadn't heard anything about it before, but apparently it was published in 2003.

*drooooool* Tom Robbins.

I haven't read the new one yet. I finished Still Life With Woodpecker a short time ago. Amazing, just like the rest.

Skinny Legs and All is still my ultimate favourite.

Shawna, currently reading Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens

36 yes responses and I'm the only no. Literature tends to bore me. I guess I'm one of the 46.7% group on this one. :)

josh, my boyfriend isn't on fhdc, but he'd have voted no with you.

he doesn't dig liturature, i think the last book he read (outside of for school) was "the skeptical environmentalist" (which i intend to borrow next month)

however he does have a subscription to "the economist" so he reads that every week.

So perhaps we can generalize; people named Josh do not read literature :-)

correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe the "josh" in that post was directed at joshw -- last I read, her bf's name was Chris... or did I miss something?

-- Pauley

no, pauley, i think you're right.

well that genaralization wouldn't work. My dad's name is Chris, and he reads like a mofo.

A well-read mofo, at that.

pauley, du hast recht.

sorry gordon, the generalization doesn't work.

Once again a beautiful theory falls to an ugly fact.

I just finished "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt.. It is now my favorite book^^.. before that, the "S.C.U.M. Manifesto" by Valerie Solanas.. and now: "Angel of Darkness" by Caleb Carr .. pretty good murder mystery/crime drama novel... and "Daughter of God" by Lewis Perdue... it's around the same place as "The DaVinci Code".. female messiah stuff in there... I'm not too far into it, but it's pretty good so far

I'm reading "Angles and Demons" by Dan Brown...i've heard so much about it and the DaVinci Code that i figured i had to read them to see what all the fuss is about...really good!! (more so then i expected :-)

I just finished "Naked Empire"...the latest in Terry Goodkinds Sword of Truth series and one of my all time favouite authors.

after Dan Brown i think i'm going to read the Depford Trilogy by Robertson Davies

I read the Depford Trilogy� a few months ago.� I definitely enjoyed reading it.� Tne series reminded me of John Irving (The World According to Garp).� It not really summer reading, though.� I had it with me on vacation in Puerto Rico, and it just doesn't go well with sunshine and the beach.

DaVinci Code was good... just remember, it's very very very much a work of fiction. ;->

how can you be so sure? ;-)

Glad someone mentioned Dan Brown... I read Deception Point first, then Angels and Demons, now I'm working on Digital Fortress (recommended for the computer savvy)... then I'll get around to Da Vinci Code.� I think Brown's stuff is researched out well and put together in an intelligent fashion... I really like touches like the Vatican maps in Angels and Demons.... COOL...